Clarendon County Administrator David Epperson asked Dec. 8 Clarendon County Council members to update the county's policy regarding alcohol and drugs both during and before working hours.
"We were going through our current employee guidelines manual, and the language where drug and alcohol abuse is mentioned is not detailed enough to be in compliance with state and federal law," Epperson said. "We've went back through and outlined criteria to what can initiate the action to be drug tested."
Epperson said specific language was added for employees "found to be in a department the administrator deems to be safety sensitive."
These include "all employees who are required by their jobs to possess a Commercial Driver's License (and) are subject to the Federal Department of Transportation's Motor Carrier Safety Regulations ... which address the misue of alcohol among DOT-regulated employees," reads the new language.
Those regulations prohibit using alcohol within four hours of reporting for duty; reporting for work with an alcohol concentration of .02 or greater; using alcohol while on duty; using alcohol within eight hours following a wreck which requires an alcohol test or until a post-wreck test is conducted, whichever occurs first; possessing alcohol while on duty; and transporting alcohol in any DOT-regulated vehicle, except when alcohol is mandatory cargo.
"Essentially these new guidelines set out when an employee can be tested for drugs and alcohol," Epperson added.
Epperson said the new language was approved by Human Resources and an employment attorney.
"They've recommended we do this to be incompliance with state and federal regulations," he said.
Council members unanimously adopted a resolution amending the code to include the new stipulations.
In lieu of terminating an employee who violates the policy, the county may suspend the person, according to the manual "and condition his continued or future employment upon the successful completion of an alcohol counseling and/or rehabilitation program."
